00:00What bothers me is that we don't have a vibrant private sector.
00:04That bothers me as Secretary of Finance, entrepreneurship and fostering entrepreneurship and successful businesses
00:12and the start of businesses is under my remit.
00:15Finance Secretary Petalan Roberts said entrepreneurs need to be more compliant in relation to the necessary regulations.
00:23We have been doing the same thing for many, many years.
00:26We have the grants, we have the loans, we have equity financing and it doesn't seem to work.
00:33So right now I have engaged a consultant to let us look at effective ways of just transforming and stimulating
00:40this economy.
00:41We do have the Tobago Development Fund as well with an investment so far of about $10 million.
00:46We have the loan guarantee program and we have partnered with the banks.
00:50So what the banks are actually saying is that our entrepreneurs, business persons are not in compliance.
00:58She called out business owners on being serious and consistent with their business operations.
01:04We have to get serious in terms of how we conduct ourselves in the economy, providing business that has to
01:10be consistent.
01:10I've seen where businesses close on a Monday, close on a Wednesday, open whenever they wish.
01:15That inconsistency really and that lack of predictability really causes our consumers to not really understand and know where they
01:24are at in business.
01:26Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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